Posted: Fri, Oct 22, 2004, 8:55 PM ET (0055 GMT)
NASA announced this week that two veteran astronauts were retiring from the space agency while a third was leaving his post as chief scientist to prepare for a future mission. On Thursday NASA reported that astronauts Scott "Doc" Horowitz and Duane "Digger" Carey had left the agency. Horowitz, who flew on four shuttle missions between 1996 and 2001, left NASA to take an unspecified position in private industry. Carey, pilot on mission STS-109 in 2002, left to fulfill a long-term goal of touring the country and the world by motorcycle. NASA also announced Thursday that astronaut John Grunsfeld had left the post of chief scientist at the space agency, effective immediately, to return to the Johnson Space Center to train for a long-duration mission, presumably to the ISS, to be announced at a future date. James Garvin, chief scientist for lunar and Mars exploration at the space agency, will take over as NASA chief scientist.

Related Links:

•  NASA press release about Horowitz and Carey
•  NASA press release about Grunsfeld and Garvin